Anything
by Ellie603
Summary: Chandler and Monica have the chance to adopt a baby, but Chandler knows they have to come clean about who they are to Erica, the, hopefully, future mother of their child. Chandler decides he's going to do anything he can to get he and Monica this baby, but he doesn't know if that's going to be enough. A missing moment from "TOW the Birth Mother"


_A/N: I wasn't going to do this moment originally, but then I felt like it was too much of a jump to go from Monica and Chandler deciding to adopt to them suddenly having Jack and Erica (which is my next story, and my last in this little arc I'm doing now), and also this is possibly my favorite Chandler moment of the entire series, so that was another incentive to do this._

_I'm going back to college on Tuesday, so odds are that I won't be able to put up the next one for a bit. I've never actually gotten myself to work on fics during the school year, but I have at least 10 fic ideas sitting in a document on my computer, so I'm going to do everything I can to try to keep writing. (plus this is super fun and it'll probably be a nice alternative to my econ and stats homework and German history reading that I'm going to have this semester). Hopefully I'll be able to do a fic a week, but we'll see what happens with my schedule once I actually get back._

_I've honestly had the greatest time writing stuff this summer, and I can't thank you guys enough for all the wonderful reviews. Hopefully I'll be back writing really soon._

_Disclaimer: I don't own _Friends_, but some dialogue is taken from "TOW the Birth Mother."_

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><p>Chandler took a deep breath as he held Monica's right hand in both of his.<p>

Just a few hours ago, a young woman, Erica, had said that she wanted them to have her baby. But a mix up at the adoption agency meant that she had really wanted to meet with a different couple, a reverend and a doctor. After Monica had spent their first interview lying about who they were, while Chandler had neither confirmed nor denied anything, Chandler knew they had to come clean. He wanted this baby more than anything, and he was sure that Monica wanted the baby possibly even more than he did, but he also knew that this wasn't the way to do it. If Erica was going to give up her baby, she had to know who it was going to; he just hoped it all would be okay. Whatever happened after he told Erica and the man from the adoption agency the truth, Chandler was going to anything he could to get he and Monica this baby.

"Look, before we sign anything," Chandler began, rubbing Monica's hand gently, "we really have to talk."

Erica and the man from the agency looked back at him, waiting for what he had to say.

Chandler breathed in again, and then turned and locked eyes with Monica. He could see she was upset by the situation, but he knew she was with him in this. He turned back to face the pair on the sofa opposite him.

"We're not who you think we are," he said finally.

"I don't understand," the man from the agency replied, evidently confused.

"The agency must have made some mistake," Chandler explained, gesturing to the papers on the table with one hand, but continuing to hold Monica's with the other. "My wife is not a reverend, and I'm not a doctor."

"What?" Erica said, clearly upset and unsure about what was going on.

"That's impossible," the man assured the others.

"I could perform an operation on you and prove it, if you'd like," Chandler joked seriously, in response.

"Um, I have to check your file," the man said, apparently now somewhat convinced. "Excuse me." He got up and walked from the room.

"So who are you?" Erica asked, her expression one of disbelief.

"Well, our names really are Monica and Chandler," Chandler answered, glad to finally be able to be honest. "We're from New York."

Monica took over. "Yeah, but the important thing to know about us, is how much we would care for this little baby." Monica held up the sonogram picture that Erica had shown them right before Chandler had come clean.

"So you lied to me before?" Erica asked, the disbelief in her voice rapidly being replaced by anger.

Monica looked down, clearly ashamed. "Well, we bore false witness," she said, adding air quotes, seeming to be unable to break out of the reverend state of mind.

Chandler looked at her sideways. He was pretty sure that hadn't helped their case.

"See, I could be a reverend!" Monica exclaimed, pointing.

"I can't believe this!" Erica said, shaking her head.

Monica tried to continue. "But we were hoping that since we told you the truth that you still might consider–"

"Giving you my baby?" Erica interrupted, clearly affronted. "You think I'd give you my _child_ after this?"

Chandler had known once Monica had begun her previous sentence, that this wasn't going to work well for them. Erica seemed really upset, and Chandler didn't blame her.

"You don't have to decide right now, but if, if you could just look at our file," Monica pleaded with the young woman.

"I don't want to look at your file!" Erica said standing up. "This is over." She walked to the door and left the room.

Chandler's mouth fell open slightly. He couldn't let this happen. He had to do something. Anything. Without even a glance at Monica, he stood and moved out the door to follow Erica.

"Erica, wait," he said as he caught up with the woman.

Erica held up her hand to stop him. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Look, you have every reason to be upset," Chandler began, knowing that he only really had this one shot at fixing things. "We did lie, but only because we've been waiting and trying to have a baby for so long. And we don't know how long it's gonna be before we get another chance again."

"Well why don't you ask the reverend to pray on it?" Erica said sarcastically with a gesture back at the room where Monica was. Erica still seemed upset, but Chandler could tell that she was beginning to understand, just slightly, what had made he and Monica lie about who they were.

"Erica," Chandler continued, pleadingly, "please, just consider us. Ask them to see our file. Our last name's Bing. My wife's a chef, and I'm in advertising."

Erica nodded slowly. "Oh yeah. I actually liked you guys." She sighed slightly, but then grew angry again. "But it doesn't matter because what you did was wrong!" She started to walk away again.

Chandler sidestepped after her. "But you did like us. And you should." He knew that this was his absolute last shot. "My wife's an incredible woman. She is loving, and devoted, and caring, and, don't tell her I said this, but the woman's always right!"

Erica didn't say anything as she looked down at her feet, but she didn't leave either, and Chandler took that as a good sign.

"I love my wife more than anything in this world," Chandler continued, hoping that anything from what he said would convince Erica, "and it, it kills me that I can't give her a baby." Chandler paused. He had barely admitted that fact so bluntly to Monica, let alone anyone else.

The young woman in front of him put her hand lightly on her stomach, as though telling herself that she could solve this problem for him. She still didn't speak.

Chandler, for a moment, let himself think about having a baby as he stared down at the ground. "I really want a kid," he said, looking back up at Erica. "And when that day finally comes, I'll learn how to be a good dad. But my wife, she's already there. She's a mother without a baby." Chandler paused again and looked at Erica pleadingly. "Please."

Erica took a deep breath, staring at him. Finally she nodded. "Okay."

Chandler's mouth fell open. "Really?"

Erica nodded again, stronger this time. "You guys seem like good people, even though you lied about who you were. But I guess it would take a lot of guts to admit that you _did_ lie, and I think you'd make really good parents for my baby."

A huge smile spread over Chandler's face. "Thank you so much, Erica. This is just… thank you."

Erica offered a small smile back at him. "You're welcome. Um, I'm gonna go find your real file, so we can actually do this."

Chandler nodded to her as she moved down a different hallway.

He had done it! He had gotten he and Monica their baby. They were going to be parents! Parents! Chandler stepped back to the door where he knew Monica must be waiting, worriedly, for him to return. He forced his face into a blank expression so he could surprise Monica when he told her.

He opened the door, and Monica turned to him, something like fear in her eyes as she waited for him to say something.

He stepped completely into the room before finally speaking. "You still want that baby?"

Monica let out a breath as a smile began to grow on her face. She took a few seconds to decide if he was completely serious, before running over to him.

Chandler flailed his arms out in a miniature version of his happy Chandler dance, before she reached him and he enveloped her in a hug. He was pretty sure he was never going to stop smiling as he buried his face in Monica's shoulder. This was easily one of the greatest moments of his life.

Monica pulled back from him. "God bless you, Chandler Bing!" she said, the reverend mistake now just a funny moment in light of Erica actually allowing them to have her child.

Chandler grinned at his wife as she leaned in, kissed him, and then wrapped her arms around him again.

"How did you do it?" she asked him, her head still leaning on his shoulder.

Chandler smiled. "Just my usual Chandler Bing charm."

Monica pulled back and raised her eyebrows at him. "Your Chandler Bing charm?"

Chandler stared back at her, almost laughing. "It got _you _to sleep with me!"

Monica shook her head at him, an enormous smile on her face, as Erica and the man from the agency came back into the room.

The man looked extremely embarrassed at the situation. "I'm so sorry about the mix up. Our system has always worked so well! I don't know what happened." He shook his head. "But Erica says she wants to continue with the process, so we'll look through your real file quick, and then get started." He gestured for Monica and Chandler to sit down, as he sat on the sofa across from them, placing a stack of papers on the table between the sofas.

Chandler turned to Erica and offered a small, grateful smile, and he could see Monica next to her doing the same, mouthing "thank you" at the blonde woman.

Erica smiled slightly back as she took a seat beside the man from the agency.

As soon as Monica and Chandler were seated, Chandler taking Monica's hand in his again, the man spoke again. "Erica, do you have any questions now that we have the right file?"

Erica nodded slowly, and turned to Monica first. "So, you're a chef?"

Monica nodded back, hesitantly, her face turned toward the floor. "Yes, I am."

"How long have you been doing that?" Erica asked politely.

Monica looked up, a smile growing on her face different than the one from before. Chandler was pretty sure that Erica was asking Monica about her life to let Monica know that she forgave her for lying. Chandler could tell that Monica had become far more at ease beside him.

"It's been a pretty long time," Monica replied, "probably 12 years or something like that. I've been working at the restaurant I'm at now for a year and a half."

"She's head chef," Chandler cut in, not wanting to miss an opportunity to brag about his wife, "and it's one of the fanciest up and coming restaurants in New York."

"Wow," Erica said, obviously impressed. "That's really cool."

"Thanks," Monica said, smiling even bigger.

Erica turned to Chandler. "And you're in advertising, right?"

Chandler smiled at her. "Yeah, I've been doing that for a bit less than a year now. I was doing statistical analysis and data reconfiguration, but I really hated it, and then I was working in Tulsa four days out of every week, and I couldn't bear to spend that much time away from Monica." He squeezed his wife's hand lightly. "I had to start from the bottom in advertising, but I'm already a junior copywriter, so I think I'm doing pretty well."

Monica squeezed his hand back. "Chandler's doing amazing. He's great in advertising, and I'm so proud of him."

Chandler leaned over and kissed his wife's temple quickly. "I love you," he said quietly.

"I love you too," Monica whispered back.

Erica's small smile had grown larger as she watched them.

"Anything else you want to know, Erica?" Chandler asked.

"Just one thing," she said, glancing at their file for a moment. "You guys are from New York. Are you guys going to raise the baby in the city?"

At the question, Chandler grew thoughtful. They had been so worried about getting a baby that they hadn't thought about moving to the suburbs. That had always been part of their "someday" plan, to get a small place outside the city where the kids could ride their bikes and play, but it hadn't come up in months.

Monica started to answer. "I don't think we've actually talked about it. I mean, the city's a great place to raise a baby. We have a friend just across the hall from us who has a year and a half old baby girl, and little Emma's doing fine. I mean, we'll probably move out of the apartment sometime… I guess?" She turned to Chandler.

"I think I'd rather get a house outside the city," Chandler said slowly, "at least when the baby gets a bit older. Kids need space to run around and stuff."

Monica nodded. "We could maybe start looking at places, if you want to."

Chandler smiled at her. "I think I want to."

"Okay." Monica grinned back at him.

"Well, that's all my questions then," Erica said, smiling too. Then she turned to the man next to her. "Can we start filling out the forms?"

Chandler squeezed Monica's hand tightly. This was it. They were going to get their baby! Or, at least, they would get their baby in about six months. He was so unbelievably happy. Everything had worked out. Finally.

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><p>The man went through all the forms, and Monica, Chandler, and Erica signed them. There was some more paperwork they would have to do later, but all the preliminary stuff was done, and Monica and Chandler were on their way to actually becoming parents.<p>

As the man from the agency went to go file the forms, Chandler went to use the bathroom, and Monica was left alone with Erica.

Monica felt slightly awkward, since barely an hour ago she had been pretending to be a reverend just to get the other woman's child, but Erica still offered her a small smile as Monica glanced at her.

"Um, I have to ask," Monica began, turning fully to face Erica. "What made you change your mind about us?"

Erica laughed lightly, still smiling. "Chandler kept going on about how wonderful you are and how great a mother you're gonna be. He loves you more than anything, and I can see that you feel the same way about him. I figured that if you guys love each other that much, then you'd love my baby that much too." She shrugged slightly.

Monica bit her lip to keep herself from crying as her face broke into a huge smile. Every time she thought she couldn't love Chandler more, he did something like this and she fell in love with him all over again. "We will, Erica," Monica assured her, getting slightly choked up as tears came to her eyes. "We're gonna love that baby so much."

Erica nodded. "I know you will, Reverend," she added, flashing Monica a sarcastic grin.

Monica looked down sheepishly, the joke letting Monica keep her emotions in check. "Sorry about that. We've just been waiting so long…" She trailed off.

Erica laughed again. "It's okay. Well, not exactly okay, but, I mean, I understand. And I'm really happy that I can do this for you guys."

Monica lifted her head back up. "Thank you. So much."

"Of course," Erica said, offering her a nod as Chandler walked back in.

"Well, we should probably head out, Mon," he said to her. "Lots of phone calls to make." He was grinning hugely, and Monica's face quickly moved to match his.

"Okay." She turned to Erica. "Thank you, again." She laughed softly. "We'll see you soon, I guess. You'll have to come out to see us in the city."

Erica nodded. "Definitely."

Monica reached out, pulled the blonde woman into a hug, and then stepped back.

Chandler moved forward. "Thank you so much for this, Erica. You have no idea how much this means to us."

Erica smiled at him. "I think I might have _some_ idea now."

Chandler laughed. "Yeah, maybe you do." He leaned in and hugged Erica too.

All three of them left the room together, and then separated in a lobby area where Chandler and Monica had to leave the building while Erica had to go off into another area.

After saying their final goodbyes, Monica and Chandler finally stepped outside to walk the couple blocks back to the hotel that they were staying at for the night.

Chandler started to make his way the street, but Monica grabbed his hand to stop him.

He looked over at her curiously. "What's up?"

Monica just looked at him. "You're amazing," she said finally. "You got us a baby! I'm pretty sure you can do anything. I love you so much, Chandler."

Chandler stared back at her. "I love you too." He paused for a moment, a smile growing on his face. "We're gonna be parents! We're _actually_ gonna be parents!"

"I know!" Monica replied, almost jumping up in the air in happiness. "I'm so excited!"

Chandler wrapped his arms around her. "Me too, Mon. Me too."

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><p><em>AN: Thank you guys so much for reading. Reviews are the absolute best!_


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